The National Chairman of the National Conscience Party, Dr. Yinusa Tanko, has said that the Northern youth groups that recently issued a quit notice to the Igbo living in the 19 Northern states are on their own.
He said that the members of the Northern youth groups were not sponsored or backed by any of the leaders from the area.
Tanko, who spoke in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, stressed that the coalition of Northern youth groups, which issued the threemonth ultimatum to the Igbo in the region to quit, took the action unilaterally without being prompted by any of the leaders from the area.
He added that the quit notice given by the youths to the Igbo in the region came as “a rude shock” and a surprise to most of the Northern people.
Tanko attributed the calls for the dismantling of the Nigeria Federation by the different groups to the neglect of the country’s youths, saying that Northerners had always been interested in the unity of the nation.
He also called for caution in the demand for the arrest of the leaders of the Northern youth groups, who issued the ultimatum to the Igbo, and warned that taking such an action against them might not augur well for the unity and peace of the nation.
Tanko said, “The quit notice came as a shock to most northerners. We should be able to tolerate each other.
We have neglected the Nigerian youths for too long. I will support the issue of restructuring if it will be the panacea to the problem. I call on the governors, who have been neglecting Nigerian youths, to get them employed and cater for their needs. It’s better to live together as one than to be divided.
“The northern people have always been interested in the unity of Nigeria. No one sponsored the quit notice on Igbo. The moment a northern youth is arrested, no one would know what it would lead to.”
